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Beaumont students motivated to master math and science skills
Jordan Cole teaches students about surface area and circumference.
It’s one-o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon at Martin Luther King (MLK) Middle School in Beaumont. As the school bell rings between classes, it’s a cue for ExxonMobil engineer Jordan Cole that his eighth grade students are making their way to the science lab. Moments later, he watches as a handful of students shuffle in. They pass the solar system models, beakers, Bunsen burners and make their way to the front of the room. Sitting down on high stools they take a load off by dropping their backpacks to the ground and leaning over the science lab table – their arms touching the cold black surface of the table. They are ready to listen to what Cole has to teach them about math and science. “I’m one of five ExxonMobil employee volunteers who chose to be part of this volunteer program at MLK middle school, and we help eighth graders with math and science skills. These students are on the cusp of passing the standardized test so we hope that by making an intervention during the Spring semester they will be able to pass the test at the end of the school year,” says Cole. Adjacent to the students stands a K’nex Rollercoaster - a visual model Cole and his colleagues use to teach the students about slope. “It’s a chance we get to make math fun and show them that they can understand these concepts. Once they find the confidence within themselves, I hope they can be inspired to achieve academic success,” says Cole. The volunteer program at MLK middle school happens on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for one hour. The goal is to prepare students for the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam they are scheduled to take at the end of the school year. The initiative stemmed from the on-going tutoring program ExxonMobil employees initiated at Charlton-Pollard elementary in 2011. The BEST organization at ExxonMobil identified an opportunity to help raise test scores on standardized math and science exams by initiating tutoring sessions.
Students work with tutors to learn and strengthen math and science skills.
“From our efforts at both Charlton-Pollard and MLK we have seen an improvement in test scores for the kids we tutor,” says Erika Anderson. She is an ExxonMobil engineer and BEST member. This year she helped coordinate the volunteers and tutoring sessions. She’s also volunteered to teach during past tutorial program sessions. Anderson believes in the importance of helping students master math and science skills early in elementary school and beyond. “Statistics show that a large percentage of at-risk students struggle with strong academic behaviors beginning early-on in elementary school. The lack of disciplined focus on mastering math and science methodologies, simple calculations and techniques are further revealed in the middle school grade levels. BEST hopes that with consistent one-on- one tutorials, small group tutoring, mentorship and examples of long term academic excellence we can encourage students. We also hope to motivate and inspire our youth to become more engaged and excited about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities and future career opportunities,” says Anderson.
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